French police expose £2.6m lingerie thieves

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | February 23, 2003 | Kim Willsher

[MadIvan]

A cartel of lingerie thieves who stole £2.6 million worth of lacy bras and briefs - more than 100,000 items - in a four-year crime spree has been broken up by French police.

Luxurious underwear destined for designers such as Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein ended up instead on the black market, courtesy of five separate criminal rings operating at the Lejaby company's factory near Lyons, in south-east France.

Lejaby's celebrated Invisible range of knickers lived up to its name when a consignment of 13,000 items being transported by lorry from the factory simply vanished.

One of the more sophisticated gangs even printed its own mail order catalogue of stolen items, which would cost up to £100 each in upmarket stores.

According to the police, the lingerie was then dispatched, with official-looking invoices, to unsuspecting retailers, who believed that they were dealing with genuine Lejaby representatives.

L'affaire G-string, as the case has become known in France, has come as a huge embarrassment to Lejaby, which makes top-of-the-range underwear under its own name in addition to supplying other designer labels.

"We still have no idea how they evaded all the security controls," said one detective. "But the stolen goods certainly disappeared fast. Imagine being able to buy items normally worn only by the jet set and costing in some cases more than €100 [£68] for just €30 or €40."

After a five-month investigation, a team of 60 police officers carried out dawn raids on the factory and the homes of several staff members.

They arrested 17 people - eight men and nine women, all said to have been employed in key positions at the company - and confiscated 2,000 items of lingerie said to be stolen.

The thefts, according to detectives, began on a small scale, with workers stealing the occasional pair of briefs from Lejaby's headquarters in Rillieux-la-Pape.

Once they realised that they could get away with it, they started taking carrier bags stuffed with lingerie - and then moved on to whole pallets of boxes.

Lejaby tightened security, but failed to halt the thefts. Finally, it called in the police.

Lejaby said it would await the outcome of the investigation before taking "appropriate legal and disciplinary action" against anyone found responsible in an effort to recover its losses. A spokesman refused to comment further on the case.

The pilfering has done little to lift morale on the factory floor. Lejaby incurred a loss last year and is transferring part of its production to Tunisia. Four of its eight factories in France will be closed, with the loss of half of its 1,243 staff.

"It's not a very happy time for us," said a Lejaby staff union representative. "With the relocation plans, the atmosphere was already pretty bad. This dirty business hasn't strengthened our hand with the management."

[MadIvan]

I can't help but be reminded of this Monty Python sketch:

(Cut back to shop, the robber walks in and points gun at the assistant.)

Robber: Good morning, I am a bank robber. Er, please don't panic, just hand over all your money.

Assistant: (politely) This is a lingerie shop, sir.

Robber: Fine, fine, fine. (slightly nonplussed) Adopt, adapt and improve. Motto of the round table. Well, um ... what have you got?

Assistant: (still politely) Er, we've got corsets, stockings, suspender belts, tights, bras, slips, petticoats, knickers, socks and garters, sir.

Robber: Fine, fine, fine, fine. No large piles of money in safes?

Assistant: No, sir.

Robber: No deposit accounts?

Assistant: No sir.

Robber: No piles of cash in easy to carry bags?

Assistant: None at all sir.

Robber: No luncheon vouchers?

Assistant: No, sir.

Robber: Fine, fine. Well, um... adopt, adapt and improve. Just a pair of knickers then please.

Regards, Ivan

[MadIvan]

Bump!

[LibKill]

Ghostbusters II.

Rick Morales: My guys are still under a judicial mistrangment order. That blue thing I got from her! They could be exposing themselves!

Bill Murray: And you don't want us exposing ourselves!

[graycamel]

I always knew the French were a bunch of panty-waists. LOL.

[Leisler]

And where were you?

[aculeus]

Exhibit I submitted on behalf of Lejaby.

[BlessedBeGod]

...and then moved on to whole pallets of boxes. Lejaby tightened security, but failed to halt the thefts.

LOL! They tightened security, but couldn't prevent entire pallets of boxes from being stolen? Only the incompetent French!

[Damagro]

"...and then moved on to whole pallets of boxes. Lejaby tightened security, but failed to halt the thefts."

Their security people surrendered

[metesky]

I never go in myself. I always send ond of my, ahem, henchmen...